Looking from Canada to the United States, across Niagara's Horseshoe Falls

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Niagara Falls, then and now: village of Chippawa

below: Mar.13, 2009 - looking in a north-easterly direction towards the corner of Portage Rd. and Macklem St. in Chippawa, Ont. The Chippawa bridge is seen at the far right.

above: same view, ca. 1908-1910 - this was the old Baltimore House, which stood on the corner, at the far right. According to the Niagara Falls Library Archives, the frame house seen at the left, which fronted onto the north-side of Portage Rd., was erected in the 1890's and demolished around 1903. The portion seen at the right still stands today (see previous photo above); where the house once was is now an addition to the current restaurant. The original builder of the Baltimore House was a War Of 1812 veteran, John Kirkpatrick. Apparently, due to various construction/demolition over the years, not much of the actual original building is left, but for several walls.

Click on photos to enlarge!Above: Baltimore House historical marker, as seen on May 1, 2008, located in front of the current Boathouse Restaurant on the north-west corner of Macklem St. and Portage Rd., in Chippawa, Ontario. (...strangely, this sign vanished from its post apparently sometime around 2013 (??) and I heard a rumour that it had been thrown into the river across the street!! Don't know what really happened, but, as of 2015, the original sign is still missing, and has not been replaced)

Above: Baltimore House, 1928 (Niagara Falls Library archive) Above: same location, March, 1969, as Murphy's variety store. (NF Library archive)Above: same location, May 1, 2008, by R. Bobak. Now a tavern with a nice patio overlooking the Welland River and the Chippawa Weightman bridge, where in the summer local kids can be seen diving from the bridge into the backwards-flowing river. The Welland River's flow at Chippawa has been reversed: instead of it flowing naturally into the Niagara River, it has been re-engineered to draw water from the Niagara River, in order to to supply the hydro canal leading to the Adam Beck power plant.

*Below: July 1995. (Niagara Falls Library Archive) This souvenir shop (also known also the Mackenzie house) stood right across the street from the Baltimore House, on the south-west corner of Portage Rd. and Front St.

Above: same view; same location, on May 1, 2008 - a coffee shop's parking lot now covers the location where the souvenir shop once stood on the corner. Note the same tree is seen at the far right in both above photos.

Above: same view, Feb.26, 2009 - the top portion of the maple tree with the low main-trunk split (the same one seen at the far right side in the previous two above photos, along Portage Rd.) has now been cut down; the tree-trunk-split has been carved into a wood sculpture of a Thunderbird eagle, and is underway of being painted this day. (see also: The Chippawa Thunderbird )
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